Brittney Griner reveals she ‘wanted to kill herself more than once’ while held in Russian prison

Brittney Griner revealed she considered suicide several times while held in a Russian prison following her 2022 arrest.

She was released in a 1-for-1 swap with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in December 2022, who has since been criticized for failing to return Paul Whelan, a US marine imprisoned for espionage in 2018.

However, before she could be released, Griner considered suicide given the conditions in the Russian detention center, leaving her feeling “less than human”, she revealed to ABC’s Robin Roberts.

“I wanted to kill myself more than once in those first weeks,” she said during the 20/20: Prisoner of Russia interview. “I wanted to leave here so badly.”

Brittney Griner revealed she considered suicide several times in a Russian prison

The WNBA superstar sat down with ABC’s Robin Roberts on 20/20: Prisoner of Russia

“I didn’t think I could overcome what I needed to. I really thought about it,” she added of planning to kill herself.

“But then I thought, what if they don’t give my body back to my family? And I was like, I can’t put them through this. I have to endure this.

Griner’s suicidal thoughts came while she had to endure the “dirtiest” conditions in her cell.

The basketball superstar detailed the shocking conditions, including the discovery of a “big a**knife” left in his cell when he first entered.

“When we enter the cell, there is a bathroom. There’s a little slip sink that leaks and then you just add a layer of dust, dirt, grime, blood stains. Just dirt,” she said.

“I had a few shirts, a few pairs of sweatshirts, shoes on my feet. One of my shirts I tore and used one to clean myself. I used one as toilet paper. With my dirty, dirty hole in the ground with feces everywhere.

“That’s when I felt the dirtiest and, like, less than human.”

Griner also revealed that the food the prisoners had to eat included cement-like porridge and small pieces of fish “containing only bones.”

However, the worst experiences occurred when prisoners had time outside, she said.

“You’re supposed to have 15 minutes outside,” she says. 15 minutes is sometimes two hours. It’s a snowstorm. It’s cold. It’s winter. You are under the snow.

“And those days were the hardest because it’s like, ‘Yo, come get us. “Like, we’re screaming. We’re screaming. You know, we’re shaking the bars, get us in the house, get us in.”

More soon.

For help, call Samaritans on 116123 in the UK or visit www.samaritans.org, or Suicide & Crisis Lifeline on 988 in the US.